Dispersement of relatively viscous liquids such as liquid soaps, hand sanitizing fluids, cosmetic creams, insect repellant lotions and similar fluids is often by either squeezable plastic tubes with closable caps or plastic bottles with reciprocating valve push pumps mounted on top. Conventional dispensers of these types dominate the marketplace for dispersing viscous fluids, even for smaller or pocketable containers. Yet these containers are well known for wasting irrevocable product, inconvenient handling, unfortunate leaks, product contamination and product loss through evaporation.
The packaging art has long offered solution to some of these shortcomings. For example, Bensen U.S. Pat. No. 2,777,612 (1957) disclosed a tube dispenser with a collapsible inner product pouch associated with a pneumatic pump system to dispense most of the viscous liquid product while protecting it from atmospheric contamination. Two examples of external pumps using a reciprocating chamber are Nilsson U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,885 (1992) and Thomsen U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,355 (1993). Nilsson disclosed a dispensing pump with an elastic pump chamber, deformable under direct pressure, and the subsequent hydraulic pressure closing an inlet valve and opening an outlet valve. Thomsen discloses an exterior dispensing button pump that relies on a precursor mechanical closing of the inlet passage from the reservoir, permitting subsequent pressure build in pump chamber, and fluid dispensing from the exit valve. An internal pump design is disclosed by Abergel U.S. Pat. No. 6,789,706 (2004). Abergel describes a pump chamber enclosed by a reservoir wall that communicates pressure to the pump building fluid pressure that activates both outlet and inlet valves for discharging and refill. A simple, low-cost pump design is described by Harper U.S. Pat. No. 7,004,354 (2006). Harper discloses a reservoir chamber and dispersement chamber separated by a self-forming choke valve that prevents fluid passage unless purposefully distorted so that pump pressure can build sufficient to exit the outlet passage for dispersement; there is no auto refill feature and the system uses a stripping action more than actual pumping of fluid for dispersement. None of the disclosures describe nor suggest a particularly low-cost, minimal part pump action that is easy to manufacture and operate. The need for a fluid dispenser that employs an internal pump, in a thin compact package of minimal construct has yet to be designed.